Friends’ Webmarks

Iglooo | Compare Book Prices in India

Rashmi Swamy — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:16:24 -0800

Iglooo was inspired by Mr. Jaswant Singh’s controversial new book - rather an attempt to buy it online at the best possible price. Having spent a reasonable amount of time store hopping and comparing pries, we figured there should be a better way.

A much needed idea, implemented with a nice minimalist interface.

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Full movies on Youtube.

Rashmi Swamy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 15:10:15 -0800

Isn’t this awesome. Hope they keep adding on to it.

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Paying Zero for Public Services

Rashmi Swamy — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 13:40:17 -0800

Fighting corruption with 0-money. That’s a nice new concept.

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Life- BBC TV series

Rashmi Swamy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:50:21 -0800

Another brilliant ten-part series narrated by David Attenborough. It’s about the different creatures of this world like you’ve never seen them before and how they survive quite intelligently in their habitats. If you are not stuck by amazement watching this series, you must be an alien to human kind. Another reason as to why it’s been a pleasure to watch is that it has all been shot in HD with an ‘on location’ ten minute segment towards the end where they show how they actually got the shots in certain locations. Well if you’ve seen Planet Earth and loved it, you can be assured to get the same sentiments from Life, if not more. It’s awe-striking. It’s hilarious. It’s most fascinating.

If you happen to be reading this from the UK, catch it on BBC One showing every monday or on the iPlayer. (BBC website)

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After the Wedding- Efter brylluppet (2006)

Rashmi Swamy — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 10:20:18 -0800

This was one of those wonderfully made European movies that cannot be replicated in the details by any of the “-woods”. Life is full of coincidences that adds the unexpected element in our ordinary lives. This Danish movie has an ordinary plot of estranged lovers, where their paths diverged only to meet in unusual circumstances to reveal some expected news. But it stands out for the plot is so powerfully expressed by performances that move you. The details in the making of the movie, so as not to overwhelm you excessively and setting the pace perfectly is to be commended and for keeping the emotions close to real life.

My one line review: A wonderful gripping drama for the emotional soul. (Via Rungta)

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Objectified: A Documentary Film by Gary Hustwit

Rashmi Swamy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:10:16 -0800

Have waited a long time to watch this. Now that it has become available, I can only recommend it. Although the after taste felt something like this:

It strives to cover just about every possible facet of industrial design, but with a 75 minute running time, there are a lot of ideas that don’t quite get all the attention that they deserve. Which is not to say this isn’t a fascinating documentary, only that it flies by so fast that it’s hard to grasp and fully digest all of the questions being asked.

Which consequently asks for a re-watch soon and worth the watch ‘cause…

Objectified is a movie that will open your mind to the hidden world of design that influences virtually every aspect of our lives. Gary Hustwit has once again taken a mundane concept and made something both compelling and artistic out of it.

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A trip into the secret, online ‘cloud’

Rashmi Swamy — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 06:40:17 -0800

Taking a trip to the computing clouds. An untechnical description of where your online data actually is.

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Our Unlucky Children - India Uncut

Rashmi Swamy — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:20:16 -0700

Amit Varma’s take on the state of education in India and how it fails.

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Sita Sings the Blues

Rashmi Swamy — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 07:30:20 -0700

Sita Sings the Blues. A self explanatory title. It’s an animation with an autobiographical parallel to the mythology of the Ramayana. Personally found it to be a well executed idea for an independent movie. Give it a go if you want another, although arguably feministic, POV of our great Indian epic. The good part, it’s also publicly available. (Via Shikha.)

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Garden State (2004)

Rashmi Swamy — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 13:50:17 -0700

I suppose I didn’t do enough justice the first time I watched this movie a couple of years ago. Re-watching it made me realise just how beautiful and how much depth there was in the movie. The theme and the performances by Zack Baff (who also wrote and made this his directorial debut) along with Natalie Portman definitely made it worth the watch. Also loved the choice of indie music.

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